1. Field
The present disclosure relates to animal transport containers, and more particularly pertains to a new modular system for transporting animals and gear in the cargo space of a vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is common for people such as hunters, sportsmen and sportswomen, and other animal owners to transport their animals in vehicles, especially if the person uses the animal for hunting. When hunting, the person will often have additional gear for care of the animal as well as for conducting the hunt. For the comfort of the animal, as well as to accommodate the gear, it is not uncommon to utilize a pickup truck with an open bed (or a bed that is enclosed topper or cap) or a sport utility vehicle with a large open space in the rear. While this can be convenient, the animals and gear need to be secured during movement of the vehicle, and various apparatus have been devised to provide the securement.
However, the known apparatus are believed to be unnecessarily difficult to use, since the securing of the apparatus in the cargo space can also make the apparatus difficult to access, and thus difficult to load with and animal and gear. Furthermore, it is not uncommon that a person that has one hunting dog will also have a second hunting dog, or will desire to hunt along with someone who also has a hunting dog, so it is not uncommon that two or more hunting dogs and the associated hunting gear will need to be transported in the same vehicle. This can produce difficulty in the efficient use of the cargo space available, and complicate the otherwise already difficult loading and unloading process.
Known animal transport containers, such as portable kennels, tend to be small and useful for only a single animal. These containers often lacks any provision for carrying the gear that may be needed for use with the animal, such as food, water, and the like, not to mention hunting gear (if that is the purpose of transporting the animal). The known containers can also be difficult to move in and out of the vehicle to release the animal, and are typically not well configured to fit the cargo space of a vehicle in an efficient manner.
It is therefore believed that there is a need for a more space efficient and easy to use alternative to the known animal and cargo transporting apparatus.